Nostalgia
by Ari Gozen
Summary: What painful memories can a photo of a happy couple possibly bring? And now, can she say that Tezuka is still part of the picture?


Hibari stood up on a chair to grab a dusty box that had been sitting in her closet for over a year now. What was in it? She had long forgotten that she'd put it there, let alone remembered its contents. It wasn't as heavy as it looked to be, but something about the box gave her a weird feeling.

She flopped down on the edge of her bed and placed the box in her lap. After blowing wisps of dust off of the lid, Hibari hesitantly lifted the lid.

With one glance at what was inside, she knew exactly what the box was. It was a box of memories from when she had lived in Tokyo. How could she have forgotten about these? Maybe it was a sign of her choice to just detach herself from Tokyo completely, in body _and_ mind.

There were some letters from her friends, which she skimmed through with a heavy heart. Hibari also found some old paper flowers and origami gifts that she'd gotten. Finally, under other different keepsakes, Hibari found it.

A picture of her and Tezuka.

Her heart may as well have skipped a beat, because that's what it felt like. For moments, she just stared at the picture, running her finger over the faces, the colour.

"Mitsu-kun…"

It was a small picture, just a snapshot her friend had taken while they were walking together. It was snowing that day, she remembered. Actually, it hadn't just been snowing, it was Christmas Eve of her last year of middle school. She and Tezuka were both wearing teal-coloured scarves. The scarves had been a gift from her. Earlier in the month, her friend had said that if they had something that matched, it would look cute. And so, that was how they both ended up with scarves. And they did look cute when they both wore it, she had to agree. After the photo had been taken, Tezuka had given her a soft kiss on the cheek and slid a small silver ring onto her finger, something that she had always remembered, even until now. (And the ring was just a Christmas gift, not an engagement ring.)

Still, their relationship had been far from perfect. A few months afterward, everything began to fall apart. Tezuka was always busy with tennis, so Hibari had begun to feel neglected. What was worse was that all the happenings like the tournament and the training were beginning to wear out Tezuka's nerves, and he often unconsciously took out his impatience and anger on his girlfriend.

"_Mitsu-kun, do you want to go out for lunch today?"_

"_No, I'm sorry. I'd love to, but I'm a little busy right now," Tezuka replied to her, not looking up from the chart where he had to assign everyone their position. (Singles 1, Doubles, etc.)_

"_Are you sure? You seem really tired, and—"_

_Something inside him must have snapped, because he looked up suddenly, his eyes filled with abnormal fury. "I said I'm busy, now get out!"_

_Normally, Hibari would have done as she was told, but now wasn't a normal circumstance. She had had enough of this. "Mitsu-kun, you've barely talked to me at all in the past few weeks! Have you forgotten about me? Is tennis more important to you? All I want is an hour, maybe. Just… just so that I can be with you a little longer…" What she hadn't told him was that she would be moving away in another week._

"_Maybe tennis IS more important," he shouted back at her, standing up behind his desk. "Now, I told you to GET OUT!" Tezuka pointed deliberately at the door. _

_A tear rolled down her cheek as Hibari took one last look at him and tore off the silver ring. She threw it at his feet, running out the door. It slammed loudly closed. Tezuka was left in the room alone with a very tense, and guilty, atmosphere. _

_For the next week, whether it was because he was too guilty or too angry, Tezuka didn't speak to her at all._

_Once the week ended, he never saw her again._

By the time these memories were done replaying through her head, Hibari found herself near tears. She gripped the photo tightly in her hand, resisting the urge to hug it and cry.

"What happened to us…?" she whispered to herself, as if maybe all the way in Tokyo Tezuka could hear her. If he could, would he answer her? But then again, that was two years ago, and Hibari had no intention of opening up old wounds.

But there could be so many answers. What if the whole thing had been a mistake, and if she had stayed just a little longer, things would have been better? What if he'd been meaning to apologize? There were so many 'what ifs', but there was one that bothered Hibari the most.

_What if he never loved me in the first place?_

She stared at the picture for ages more, hoping that her belief was wrong, until something caught her eye: a bright colour that she had missed in the box. A teal colour.

The scarf was still there, and Hibari pulled it out with a heavy heart. Did Tezuka still have the other one, she wondered. She held the scarf, as if it represented Tezuka himself and holding it meant that he was there with her again.

There was a sudden knock on the door. It opened, and in peeked a boy about her age. "I thought you'd be in here, although it feels kind of weird going into your room. If your brother knew, he'd kill me."

Hearing the voice, Hibari hastily slid the photo under her pillow. "Ah, Makoto-kun, you're here. I thought you and Nii-san were studying."

"We finished. Anyway, it's the holidays now. Why don't we go for a walk? It's finally snowing; I know you like that," the boy said, walking over to the window and pulling open the curtains. Sure enough, the world outside was being blanketed in a thin sheet of snow. Looking over at Hibari and seeing her jeans and sweater, he said, "But you better put on something warmer. I can't let my girlfriend catch a cold, now can I?"

Matoko grabbed a coat from the nearby hanger and draped it over her shoulders. "Oh, that's a new scarf," he noticed. "It's nice! Do you want to wear it?"

The world seemed to stop for a second as Hibari stared now at the scarf. It was something that she and Tezuka shared. But did they really share anything now, after two years? Everything that had happened then seemed so distant now…

"No, that's alright," Hibari replied as she set the scarf down, standing up and heading towards the door. "Let's go. I need to go out and buy you a Christmas present anyway."

As they walked out the door, she took one last glance at the snapshot, hidden underneath the pillow.

_I'm sorry, Mitsu-kun. You're just too far away…_

* * *

_**Author's Notes:**_

I haven't been active for a while, and then I come back... with a new story! Actually, this is a oneshot that I wrote quite a while ago, to go along with a picture that my friend drew. It's nothing special, not that good, but I'm pretty proud of it, for an on-the-spot story! Although I'm sorry that it really has nothing to do with Tezuka, as the main character is my OC...

Please feel free to leave a review with any comments or critiques you have! Also, tell me if you enjoy this story, because I'm thinking of taking it down after a week or so.

And I will, I promise, try to complete the next chapters for the stories I have ongoing. I've been fairly busy lately, but I'll do my best! :D

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis, and its characters, do not belong to me. Hibari and Makoto, however, are my own characters.


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